Final Five is upon us.

The All conference teams are up and posted on WCHA.COM. UND has some decent representation.

First team all-WCHA

F Ryan Stoa, Minnesota, 335
F Ryan Lasch, SCSU, 274
F Chad Rau, CC, 257
D Jamie McBain, Wisconsin, 328
D Chay Genoway, UND, 313
G Alex Stalock, Duluth, 316

Second team all-WCHA

F Ryan Duncan, UND, 199
F Jordan Schroeder, Minnesota, 180
F Justin Fontaine, Duluth, 177
D Patrick Wiercioch, Denver, 161
D Garrett Raboin, SCSU, 159
G Marc Cheverie, Denver, 154

Third team all-WCHA

F Garrett Roe, SCSU, 166
F Anthony Maiani, Denver, 139
F Rhett Rakhshani, Denver, 116
D Josh Meyers, Duluth, 146
D Kurt Davis, Mankato, 85
G Brad Eidsness, UND, 103

All-rookie team

F Jordan Schroeder, Minnesota, 77
F Joe Colborne, Denver, 43
F Mike Connolly, Duluth, 33
D Patrick Wiercioch, Denver, 77
D Jake Gardiner, Wisconsin, 31
G Brad Eidsness, UND, 77

POY -- Jamie McBain, Wisconsin
ROY-- Jordan Schroeder, Minnesota
DPOY-- Chay Genoway, UND
Coach of the year -- Dave Hakstol, UND
Student-athlete of the year -- J.P. Testwuide, Denver

WCHA Coach of the Year Dave Hakstol, who led his UND Fighting Sioux to the WCHA regular season championship and MacNaughton Cup here in 2008-09, is a four-time national finalist for the HCA Spencer Penrose Award. Hakstol has led North Dakota to an NCAA Frozen Four appearance in each of his four seasons and is already the fourth-winningest coach in UND history. Hakstol's teams have posted a winning percentage of over .700 from Jan. 1 on over his five seasons behind the bench. The Sioux are 24-12-4 through games of March 15 and ranked No. 5/6 in the latest polls.

11 Sioux on all-WCHA Academic Team...

This is the week that the WCHA awards come out. First one out is the All-WCHA Academic teams. here is the break down by teams.

Denver University-18, Alaska-Anchorage-14, St. Cloud State-12, North Dakota-11 Minnesota State-11, Colorado College-11, Minnesota-Duluth-10 Michigan Tech-9 Minnesota-6 Wisconsin-5

University of North Dakota: Brent Davidson, So, F (Morden, MB); ***Ryan Duncan, Sr, F (Calgary, AB); ***Joe Finley, Sr, D (Edina, MN); Matt Frattin, So, F (Edmonton, AB); **Chay Genoway, Jr, D (Morden, MB); Derrick LaPoint, So, D (Eau Claire, WI); ***Ryan Martens, Sr, F (Selkirk, MB); Jake Marto, So, D (Grand Forks, ND); ***Aaron Walski, Sr, G (Fargo, ND); ***Matt Watkins, Sr, F (Aylesbury, SK); **Darcy Zajac, Jr, F (Winnipeg, MB).

Pair Wise Predictor is up...

The USCHO PairWise Predictor 2009 is now up. This what I came up with, I have Minnesota losing in the first game of the Final Five. I have UND beating Wisconsin in the championship game of the Final Five. I figure since the series is equal the last 25 games (12-12-1) and since the Wisconsin Badgers won the last game, I believe there is a good chance that the UND Fighting Sioux will beat the Badgers in the Final Five. I also have DU winning the third place game against UMD. Feel free to post your PWR numbers. Wisconsin, Minnesota and UMD are definately bubble teams. REMEMBER this is for fun.

1 Boston University (BU)
2 Notre Dame (Nt)
3 Michigan (Mi)
4 North Dakota (ND)
5 Denver (DU)
6 Northeastern (NE)
7 Princeton (Pn)
8t Vermont (Vt)
8t Yale (Ya)
10 New Hampshire (NH)
11 Cornell (Cr)
12 Miami (Mm)
13 Ohio State (OS)
14 Minnesota (Mn)
15t Wisconsin (Wi)
15t Minnesota-Duluth (MD)
17t Boston College (BC)
17t St. Lawrence (SL)
19t Mass.-Lowell (ML)
19t Air Force (AF)
19t Colorado College (CC)
22t RIT (RT)
22t Northern Michigan (NM)
24 St. Cloud State (SC)
25 Alaska (Ak)
— Bemidji State

Pictures from the REA 3-14-2009

Edit Here is some pictures Sioux7 sent me. Garlynn took the pictures from last Saturday's game using Sioux7's camera.

DU has concerns at the Center Position. (edit)

DU coach George Gwozdecky has a couple concerns at the center ice position; meaning he is missing two of his top centers to knee injuries. 1.) Tyler Bozek (7-14-21) has been after having knee surgery in December, Bozek was injured he was one of the top forwards in the WCHA and in my opinion would've had a good chance of finishing with the WCHA scoring title. Bozek was also a +14 when he was hurt. 2.) Tyler Ruegsegger (15-11-26) had a season ending injury last weekend against UAA. EDIT-According to Brad's blog Denver forward Jesse Martin is "questionable for this weekend. Stay tuned.

DU coach George Gwozdecky hasn’t paid attention to his record in St. Paul (6-1, 6-0 at the WCHA Final Five) or against Wisconsin (4-0 this season). The only numbers he’s concerned with is four _ the amount of centers he’ll need to field a lineup.

DU lost junior center Tyler Ruegsegger to a season-ending knee injury last Friday in the league playoff opener against Alaska-Anchorage, and sophomore center Jesse Martin went down late in Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury. Gwozdecky said Monday that Martin, who had a goal in each game against the Seawolves, is questionable for Friday and won’t try to practice until Wednesday in St. Paul.

The Pioneers have played the past 18 games without star sophomore center Tyler Bozak, who is scheduled to return in about 10 days when DU begins the NCAA Tournament.
(Read the Whole Article Here)

BGSU Hockey teams safe for now.

Hot off the presses from the Bronco Hockey Blog BGSU hockey is safe for now. That is good news, now its time for the BGSU administration, the BGSU alumni and their boosters to come up with a solution to keep hockey running at Bowling Green.

We have heard the concerns raised by supporters of BGSU ice hockey and appreciate their passion for the program. We also recognize the significant role the Ice Arena plays in the Bowling Green community. We will work with Recreational Sports (which operates the arena) and the community to review the issues related to the facility and begin collaborating on the development of possible solutions.
(Read the whole story here)

How would Ryan Jones look in a Wild uniform?

I was watching this game last night on NHL Center Ice when former Miami Redhawk Ryan Jones scored the game winning goal at 17:42 minute mark of the third period against the L.A. Kings. I thought funny how would that player look in a Wild Uniform? We will never know since Wild GM Doug Risebrough traded him away to the Predators before we got a chance to find out.

Just for comparison sake, Mr untouchable James Sheppard has 4 goals and 12 assist for 16 points in 69 games while Ryan Jones has 7 goals 9 assist in 41 games. In case you're mathematically challenged it took Jones 28 less games for Jones to score the same amount of points. So one could make the argument that Risebrough was wrong again in his analysis so young players.Please I am begging the Minnesota Wild ownership group, do us a favor get rid of Risebrough, please!

Where is Phil?

I got this from the Bruins beat writer today. You have to wonder what a maintenance day is? I have been trying to get some clarification on this one. Hopefully it isn't anything serious and Phil has been sick the last two seasons.

Practice lineup, with Shane Hnidy and Matt Hunwick as the two spare defensemen:

Forward lines:

1.) P.J. Axelsson Marc Savard Blake Wheeler
2.) Mark Recchi Patrice Bergeron Chuck Kobasew
3.) Milan Lucic David Krejci Michael Ryder
4.) Shawn Thornton Stephane Yelle Byron Bitz

Defense:

1.) Zdeno Chara, Dennis Wideman
2.) Andrew Ference, Steve Montador
3.) Mark Stuart, Aaron Ward

Goalies

Tim Thomas
Manny Fernandez

UPDATE: Phil Kessel was given a maintenance day today. He was the only Bruin not to practice today.

Final 5 Preview - part 1 (Sioux 7)

The first round of playoffs is in the books, with UND, DU, UW, UM, and UMD getting sweeps to move on to the Final 5. The Bulldogs get the only "upset" of the weekend in downing the Tigers in C-Springs.

Minnesota-Duluth v Minnesota - Thursday at 7pm
By upsetting CC, the Bulldogs get the 5-seed and play the Gophers (4-seed) on Thursday evenings play-in game. These two teams just played each other on Feb 27th & 28th, with a results being a tie and a Gopher win, at Mariucci. The Gophers have 17 wins this season, with 6 of them against the Huskies of SCSU, that is 35% of the UM's wins is against one team. I think the Bulldogs will want some revenge this Thursday night from their poor showing about 3 weeks ago. Some people think the Gophers have finally turned their season around, and their goalie, Kangas, is back. I don't think they have completely righted their ship, a couple of waves here and there and the rats will be fleeing their ship again. I think the Bulldogs will build off the road sweep of CC and the hat trick they scored against the Gophers last time and put Minnesota's playoff chances in jeopardy. Bulldogs 3, Gophers 2.


Wisconsin v Denver - Friday at 2pm
The first semi-final game features one team locked (DU) into the NCAA tournament and the other having to win the playoff championship (UW) to get in. The regular season series between the two teams went like this - they open up the WCHA schedule in Denver in some wild games, 6-5 and 7-4 Pioneer wins, and in Madison in Feb. the Badgers stumble at home and lose 4-3(ot) and 5-0, so DU lead this year 4-0-0. However, now that Bucky's backs against the boards, they will play with everything they got, and then some. The Pioneers are looking to hold onto a number one seed in the NCAA tourney, and repeat as Broadmoor champions. DU lost one of their top scorers in Ruegsegger, last weekend, to a knee injury (get well soon), and Jesse Martin, another center, is also lost to a lower-body injury (get well soon) and Bozak is not yet ready to return. With DU loosing body's they will have to do some line shuffling, and hope things click and quickly. Do to the injuries, I'm going with the Badgers in this one, UW 3, DU 2.


UMD/UM v North Dakota - Friday 7pm
I could wait until Thurday night/Friday morning to post this match-up, but why wait. The Sioux are 2-0-0 versus the Gophers and 0-1-1 versus the Bulldogs this year. I think the Sioux would love to play either team, Gophers, nothing like beating one of your arch-rivals in their backyard, Bulldogs, get some redemption for the first half of the season. Whoever the Sioux play I like their chances of winning, UMD has had the steady goal tending of Stalock all season, and UM has had issues with goal tending since January after playing in Grand Forks. UND's goalie, Brad Eidsness has quietly put up some good numbers this year, 2.39 GAA (1st-tie) and .909% (6th)in WCHA games, and has made timely saves when needed. I'm going with the Sioux to win their semi-final game.

Records in March

The Bruins Media Blog broke down the top 4 from each conference and their records during the month of March. So far the Bruins have kind of stumbled in March. The Bruins are going to have to win some games down the stretch to keep their lead over the Devils.

East

1. Boston (3-5-0)
2. New Jersey (5-1-0)
3. Washington (3-4-1)
4. Philadelphia (4-4-0)

West
1. Detroit (5-1-1)
2. San Jose (3-3-1)
3. Calgary (3-5-0)
4. Chicago (3-4-0)

Goon's all WCHA teams.

Here are my picks for WCHA all team selections.

1st Team WCHA

F – Ryan Stoa, minnesota
F – Justin Fontaine, Duluth
F – Jordan Schroeder, Minnesota
D – Jamie McBain, Wisconsin
D – Chay Genoway, North Dakota
G – Alex Stalock, Duluth

2nd Team WCHA

F – Ryan Lasch, St. Cloud
F – Garrett Roe, St. Cloud
F – Chad Rau,Colorado College
D – Garrett Raboin, St. Cloud
D – Patrick Wiercioch, Denver
G – Brad Eidsness, North Dakota

3rd Team WCHA

F – Anthony Maiani, Denver
F – Kael Mouillerat, Mankato
F – Ryan Duncan, North Dakota
D – Josh Meyers, Duluth
D – Brad Miller, North Dakota
G – Marc Cheverie, Denver

WCHA All Rookie Team

F – Jason Gregoire, North Dakota
F – Jordan Schroeder, Minnesota
F – Mike Connolly, Duluth
D – Patrick Wiercioch, Denver
D – Gabe Guentzel, Colorado College
G – Brad Eidsness, North Dakota

Player of the Year: Alex Stalock, Duluth
Rookie(s) of the Year: Patrick Wiercioch, Denver and Brad Eidsness
Coach of the Year: Dave Hakstol

Analysis: I was looking at some of the WCHA beat writers picks for their WCHA players selections and I think that the Rookie of the Year in the WCHA is going to be Denver University Defenseman Patrick Wiercioch. This kid is hands down the best rookie defenseman in the WCHA and was ranked second over all in the league for defensman scoring. I have seen a lot of people saying that Jordan Schroeder is the best Rookie in the league and I disagree. I think Brad Eidsness and Patrick Wiercioch have meant more to their respective teams and made bigger contributions to their teams success on the ice Eidsness and Wiercioch's teams finish 1st and 2nd. Schroeder's team backed into the fifth spot in the WCHA.

Here are Chris Dilks WCH picks.

Here are Gandalf The Red from 60 Minutes, No Alibis, No Regrets.

Poll Monday.

USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I Men's Poll
March 16, 2009

1 Notre Dame (27) 29-5-3
2 Boston University (23) 29-6-4
3 Michigan 28-10-0
4 Denver 22-10-5
5 Northeastern 25-10-4
6 North Dakota 24-12-4
7 Yale 22-7-2
8 Princeton 22-10-0
9 Cornell 20-8-4
10 Vermont 20-11-5
11 New Hampshire 19-12-5
12 Miami 20-12-5 435 8
13 Minnesota 17-12-7
14 St. Lawrence 21-11-4
15 Boston College 18-13-5
16 Wisconsin 19-15-4 253
17 Minnesota-Duluth 18-12-8
18 Ohio State 23-14-4
19 Mass.-Lowell 19-15-2
20 Colorado College 16-12-10
Others Receiving Votes: Alaska 40, Air Force 37, Northern Michigan 21, St. Cloud State 11, RIT 7, Minnesota State 4, Bemidji State 2
-------------------

USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's poll
March 16, 2009

1 Boston University (19)
2 Notre Dame (15)
3 Michigan
4 Denver
5 North Dakota
6 Northeastern
7 Yale
8 Princeton
9 Vermont
10 Cornell
11 Minnesota
12 New Hampshire
13 Miami (Ohio)
14 St. Lawrence
15 Boston College
Others receiving votes: University of Minnesota Duluth, 42; University of Wisconsin, 18; The Ohio State University, 9; University of Massachusetts Lowell, 6; Colorado College, 3.

Backes and Oshie take down the Wild.

Yesterday I was watching the listless Wild and the upstart St Louis Blues play in St. Louis on Fox Sports Net and It was amazing to watch former Fighting Sioux T.J. Oshie and former MSU-M Maverick David Backes totally dismantle the Minnesota Wild. At least the day wasn't a total loss T.J. Oshie had two assist on the day and David Backes had a pretty goal.

Looks like the Wild have pretty much bagged their season and are just going through the motions, no matter what the pundits say the Wild are going to miss the Stanley Cup playoffs and it's time to dismantle this team and start over. I hoping that Wild Owner(s) Craig Leipold Owner & Governor and Philip Falcone Minority Owner would please tell Doug Risebrough to clean out his desk and give him his walking papers, because he should be done, fired. Doug Risebrough should own this mess that he let this team in.

What the fans ought to do is boycott the last Wild home games because I wouldn't pay top dollar to watch this crappy uninspired team play and they suck, their effort yesterday was absolutely horrible. The St Louis Blues took them apart piece by piece, shift by shift.

Super Wild Blogger Mike Russo kind of really put the season in a nut shell. We also find out that one of their top forwards Andrew Brunette is hurt and probably playing on a partially torn ACL.

If the Wild goes belly-up here, you just have to wonder if he’s (Brunette)going to shut it down.

And let’s be honest: The Wild’s season is slowly dying.

You can couch it anyway you’d like – and yes, the Wild’s still only a point back from the playoffs – but really, is there any reason to believe the Wild’s suddenly going to discover how to reel off a winning streak?

Not at all, and coach Jacques Lemaire said after tonight’s game that in his mind, Marian Gaborik is not close to returning. We’ll see this week.

Again we can use funny numbers to blur the record, but the reality is, the Wild is facing must-wins every single night and has dropped nine of the past 11 games (2-5-4).

This year's version of you are the committee

I really like this time of year hockey's version of March Madness.
College Hockey News has the You are the Committee up again. It is fun to play with the numbers. Post yours if you would like.


•Hockey East Semifinal #2: Northeastern defeats Mass.-Lowell.
•Hockey East Semifinal #1: Boston University defeats Boston College.
•Hockey East Championship game: Boston University defeats Northeastern.
•ECAC Semifinal #2: Princeton defeats Cornell.
•ECAC Semifinal #1: Yale defeats St. Lawrence.
•ECAC Championship game: Yale defeats Princeton.
•Atlantic Hockey Semifinal #2: RIT defeats Mercyhurst.
•Atlantic Hockey Semifinal #1: Bentley defeats Air Force.
•Atlantic Hockey Championship game: RIT defeats Bentley.
•CCHA Semifinal #2: Michigan defeats Alaska.
•CCHA Semifinal #1: Notre Dame defeats Northern Michigan.
•CCHA Championship game: Notre Dame defeats Michigan.
•WCHA Play-in #1: Minnesota-Duluth defeats Minnesota.
•WCHA Semifinal #2: Wisconsin defeats Denver.
•WCHA Semifinal #1: North Dakota defeats Minnesota-Duluth.
•WCHA Championship game: North Dakota defeats Wisconsin

INCH Power Rankings

Here is the latest power rankings from INCH.
INCH Power Rankings
March 15, 2009
1. Notre Dame
2. Boston University
3. Michigan
4. North Dakota Big weekend for the Lamoureux family: the Fighting Sioux's Mario scored in his team's 5-1 against Michigan Tech Friday; Air Force's Jacques had three goals and an assist in the Falcons' series win against Sacred Heart; and twins Jocelyne and Monique helped Minnesota to a return trip to the women's Frozen Four in a 4-3 win over Boston College.
5. Denver
7. Yale
8. Princeton
9. Vermont
10. Miami
11. Cornell
12. St. Lawrence
13. Minnesota
14. New Hampshire
15. Boston College
16. Ohio State
17. Wisconsin
18. UMass Lowell
19. Minnesota Duluth
20. Alaska

Dropped out: Colorado College, St. Cloud State, Air Force

Bubble-licious: Northern Michigan, Air Force, RIT, Bemidji State

Wow who would have thought the UND Fighting Sioux would have moved up so high in the INCH Power Rankings. That being said rankings and polls are nice but one game can end your season and send your team home.

Ducan's goal that wasn't.

Last night I thought that Vandy had tipped this goal. Even the FSSN Sioux play by play guy Pat Sweeny said that Vandy got the goal on the tip. None the less it was a nice play and a money assist by Ryan Duncan.

Scores from 3-14-2009

Saturday, March 14, 2009

CCHA Tournament
Nebraska-Omaha 0 at Notre Dame 1
Ohio State 4 at Alaska 2
Western Michigan 1 at Michigan 6
Northern Michigan 3 at Miami 2 ot

Analysis
UNO, WMU. Two games yet to be decided tonight, UAF vs tOSU and Miami hopes to fight back the pesky Wildcats from NMU. Go Cats. I wondering if my buddy from USCHO.COM redhawkman10 (aka RedHack) is sweating about his Miami RedHawks yet? LOL...

CHA Tournament
Alabama-Huntsville 1 vs. Niagara 1 ot
Robert Morris 2 at Bemidji State 3 ot

Analysis
The Beavers make the tourney for the first time since 2006. Go Beavers, lets kick some BU ass.

ECAC Tournament
Rensselaer 0 at Cornell 4
Brown 0 at Yale 2
Quinnipiac 3 at St. Lawrence 5
Union 5 at Princeton 2

Analysis
Quinnipiac, Brown, Princeton vs Union and Cornell and Rensselaer tonight for a chance to move on to Pepsi Arena, Albany, N.Y for the ECAC championship.


HEA Tournament
Massachusetts 1 at Northeastern 4
Mass.-Lowell 4 at Vermont 2
Maine 6 at Boston University 3
Boston College 1 at New Hampshire 0

Analysis
Vermont, New Hampshire BU vs Maine and Northeastern vs UMass tonight for a chance to move on the TD Bank Boston Garden. I don't see the top seeds losing tonight. Boston University is just to good to lose to games in a row to Maine that went something like 4-15-2 in 2009. Look for Northeastern to find a way to win this game.

AHA Tournament
Army 0 at Mercyhurst 5
Sacred Heart 4 at Air Force 1
Canisius 7 at Bentley 3
Holy Cross 4 at RIT 6

Analysis
Army Knights for the rest of the playoff series go to extra Hockey. My pick to win the AHA conference tourney is needs to win tonight against Holy Cross to advance. Look for RIT to close out Holy Cross, Air Force to close out Sacred Heart tonight.

WCHA Tournament
Michigan Tech 3 at North Dakota 4
Minnesota-Duluth 3 at Colorado College 1
Minnesota State 2 at Wisconsin 4
St. Cloud State 0 at Minnesota 3
Alaska-Anchorage 3 at Denver 4

Analysis
MTU,C.C.,Minnesota State, SCSU, UAA, UMD and UMN on Thursday night, DU and Wisconsin and UND gets the WINNER of the UMD and UMN game.

Linkorama --- a few things...

**DU hockey beat writer Mike Chambers Denver University is reporting that Tyler Ruegsegger is out for the season. This is a huge blow to the DU Pioneers. Tyler Ruegsegger a Junior (15-11-26), is a big part of DU team offense and his services will be missed.

Absolutely crushing news from the DU hockey team today. One of the best young guys I know, Tyler Ruegsegger — the Pioneers’ leading goal-scorer — will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

The junior center from Lakewood was injured in Friday’s 3-2 comeback victory over Alaska-Anchorage. Ruegsegger, who has a team-best 15 goals — including 12 on the power play — was the star of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff opener, scoring consecutive goals within 1:58 of the second period to tie it 2-2.

**The Bemidji State University Beavers have Qualified for the NCAA Division One hockey tourney with their overtime win again RMU. Beaver Matt Read score 8:05 into overtime to launch the Beavers into the NCAA tourney. The Beavers will probably face Notre Dame or Boston University in NCAA tourney. This is the Beavers first trip to the NCAA tourney since 2006.

**Here is Elliot Olshansky latest article at the New York Daily News. It is on former Grand Forks, ND resident and Central High Hockey player Jacques Lamoureux and his path to the Air Force Academy. Since Jacques is from North Dakota and there are probably going to be NO Sioux players in the Hobey Baker top ten (I am holding out hope for Genoway) I am going to have to say that Lamoureux is my personal favorite for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award this season.

Lamoureux is college hockey's national leader in goals with 29, and power play goals with 14. He also leads the nation with eight game-winning goals, making him the hero of one-third of the Falcons' wins this season.

**Here is the latest PWR ranking involving WCHA teams: Denver University is 3rd, the Fighting Sioux 5th, the Gophers are tied for 12th, the Minnesota Bulldogs are 15th and the Wisconsin Badgers are 17th. It would appear that Wisconsin might need to run the tables to get into the tourney. I would imagine that UMD will have to win a couple of games to get in and they will want Princeton, OSU and Minnesota to lose. The numbers will probably change a little this evening after the games in the CCHA, Hockey East and ECAC tourneys.

Sioux 4 Real Huskies 3

Grand Forks Herald Photo
They say that it is hard to close out a team in the WCHA playoffs. That statement proved to be true as MTU Huskies (aka the real Huskies) gave the Fighting Sioux all they could handle, and contested the game right to the very end.

In having a conversation Friday night with MeanEgirl from the MTU hockey Blog I am told that Michigan Tech barring injuries would have been the 6th place team in the WCHA this past season. Based on what I have seen from the Huskies this season I don't think I would rule that possibility out. While Tech won two league games this past season they come at you and put a lot of pressure in their opponents face. The Huskies may not get a lot of opportunities but they burry their chances they get. MTU lost seven one goal games and tied seven games this season. Imagine if MTU had won 3/4 of these games? They would have been giving the SCSU Huskies and the Gophers a fight for fifth place in the WCHA standings.

MacNaughten Cup returns to Grand Forks

The Cup made its first appearance in Grand Forks since 2004, at the end of the game the McNaughten Cup was brought out on the ice by Jake Brandt and Nick Fuher who were members of UND’s last MacNaughton Cup champion team in 2003-04. Also, Doug McLeod was rained with a fair number of boos from the crowd when he was introduced for the award ceremony. I have had the opportunity to see the five MacNaughten Cup award ceremonies and this one was awesome. I loved seeing some shorter guy holding the cup above their heads.

Coach Hakstol Shows some emotion

It ended with coach Dave Hakstol holding the Cup high over his head, letting out a yell and giving a big smile.

“It was fitting in a couple of different senses,” Hakstol said. “The 60-minute fight on the ice — let’s not overlook that. What a game Michigan Tech played. I don’t think they could have pushed any harder in this game. I’m sure they’ve got to be proud of their effort. I was proud of our team’s effort and getting the series win gave us a chance to make the presentation of the MacNaughton Cup special.

Originally it was thought that Ryan Duncan had scored a natural hat trick but I told my buddy before I hung up the phone that Vandy had tipped that puck on the second goal Duncan goal. Looking at Today Newspaper and box score the goal was changed as I thought. None the less, what night...

Goon's Three Stars of the Weekend

Here are my three stars for this weekend: 1.) Ryan Duncan (3-1-4), 2.) Chris VandeVelde (2-2-4) 3.) Brad Miller (0-5-5) Honorable Mention Matt Frattin (1-2-3) Look for Brad Miller to get some votes for defensive player of the week in the WCHA, I think he should be a lock for this week’s award. Also, I think Ryan Duncan will get a look for offensive player of the week. I am sure that Kangas who has had like 4 good games the second half of the season will challenge Brad Miller for Defensive player of the weekend.


Box Score.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NDK-1 Evan Trupp (2-Hooking) MTU 0x1 10:26
MTU-1 Alex MacLeod (2-Charging) NDK 0x1 11:54
NDK-2 Evan Trupp (2-Hooking) MTU 1x2 17:21
MTU 1 - 0 6x5 PP Alex MacLeod (6) (Alex Gagne, Deron Cousens) 18:54
MTU: 19,18,5,10,14,G30 NDK: 5,11,6,20,G31

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MTU-2 Ryan Angelow (2-Hooking) NDK 0x2 5:29
NDK-3 Brett Hextall (2-Interference) MTU 1x3 5:50
MTU-3 John Schwarz (2-Hooking) NDK 1x3 7:54
NDK 1 - 1 6x5 PP Ryan Duncan (17) (Brad Miller, Jake Marto) 8:30
NDK: 16,14,25,29,26,G31 MTU: 5,28,20,13,G30
MTU-4 Drew Dobson (2-Checking from Behind) NDK 2x4 9:39
NDK 2 - 1 6x5 PP LL Chris VandeVelde (16) (Ryan Duncan, Brad Miller) 10:31
NDK: 16,14,25,26,29,G31 MTU: 28,10,13,12,G30
NDK 3 - 1 6x6 Ryan Duncan (18) (Jason Gregoire, Brett Hextall) 11:46
NDK (+): 16,17,26,6,25,G31 MTU (-): 10,18,22,5,20,G30
NDK-4 Andrew Kozek (2-Hooking) MTU 1x4 16:24
MTU-5 Brett Olson (2-Slashing) NDK 2x5 16:32
NDK-5 BENCH (2-TOO MANY PLAYERS ON ICE) (Served by Brett Hextall) MTU 2x5 17:15
MTU 2 - 3 5x4 PP Jordan Baker (16) (Drew Dobson, Geoff Kinrade) 17:31
MTU: 22,5,12,26,G37 NDK: 5,2,16,G31

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3rd Period (20:00)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MTU-6 Eli Vlaisavljevich (2-Tripping) NDK 2x6 2:06
NDK 4 - 2 6x6 GW Matt Frattin (13) (Chris VandeVelde) 5:29
NDK (+): 21,29,24,19,14,G31 MTU (-): 20,16,19,17,12,G37
MTU 3 - 4 6x6 Drew Dobson (5) (Jordan Baker, Ricky Doriott) 16:35
MTU (+): 5,22,23,10,18,G37 NDK (-): 20,11,8,25,6,G31
Timeout - Michigan Tech 18:32

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Game

Then there were five. Sioux 4 - Tech 3

These are the Five teams that will play for the Final Five next weekend.
The yearly trip the Xcel Energy Center the Hockey Mecca in the Midwest.
I am sure we will hear Bruce McLeod breath a sigh of relief his two Big Ten schools got to St Paul. More to follow tomorrow. I can hardly wait this is going to be a good tourney. I also proved to Donna that I did not jinx the UMD Bulldogs but I some how must have given the Huskies and Mavericks some bad mojo because I was pulling for them as well.



1.) UND
2.) DU
3.) BADgers
4.) Goofs
5.) Bulldogs

C.C. SCSU MSU-M UAA MTU; season over.